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Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien (file photo) Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Over 25,000 people sign petition calling for government to scrap tax breaks for cuckoo funds

Cabinet is set to discuss proposals on housing today.

A PETITION SIGNED by more than 25,000 people calling for the government to scrap tax breaks for cuckoo funds, build public homes, strengthening tenant rights, and put the right to a home in the constitution has been delivered to Cabinet.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe are due to bring proposals to Cabinet this morning to prevent the bulk purchase of housing estates by investment funds.

O’Brien is to brief ministers on proposals to issue a circular to local authorities banning them from granting planning for developments of houses and duplexes which could be sold in bulk to investment funds. He will also propose ring-fencing a proportion of new developments for first-time buyers and other purchasers.

Donohoe will brief colleagues on taxation plans which may see investment funds charged stamp duty on certain residential purchases.

The petition calls for the following:

  • Scrap investor tax breaks – scrap REIT tax
  • Impose investor tax of 50% on profits
  • Restrict sale of new developments to individual home buyers & not for profits
  • Build public & affordable homes on huge state lands
  • Right to housing in our Constitution
  • Remove landlords ability to evict tenants for sale and no-fault evictions

The petition also notes that other measures could curb the funds and help make housing affordable including a vacant and derelict homes tax, doubling the capital spend on building public and affordable homes, implementing a rent freeze on new and existing homes, and rent affordability measures.

The petition was started by Dr Rory Hearne, Assistant Professor at Maynooth University. Writing in The Journal earlier this month, the housing expert has said the investor takeover of homes is no accident – it’s government policy.

Speaking this morning, Hearne said: “As the Cabinet is set to meet to discuss the issues of investors buying up homes, they must realise that the public is opposed to increased role of cuckoo fund investors buying up homes, not just housing estates in commuter belts, houses and apartments are homes, and then renting them out at unaffordable rents.

“First-time buyers, people looking to buy a home, and people seeking to rent an affordable home, and local authorities and AHBs looking to buy social housing are all negatively affected by these real estate investor funds buying up houses and apartments.”

‘Anger and frustration’

Emily Duffy, Deputy Director of campaign group Uplift who supported the petition, said the response reflects people’s “anger and frustration”.

“My generation were told that we could either leave Ireland or accept a terrible quality of life of unaffordable housing, insecure jobs and underfunded primary healthcare.

“Now, as many of us look to put down roots, we are once again being told that there is no room in Ireland for us – while Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil continue to support the interests of corporate investors and landlords over that of ordinary people who want to have a secure home and a stable community,” Duffy said.

“The petition is a clear demand that the Government must implement meaningful and effective and immediate measures to stop the real estate funds,” she added.

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    Mute Ger O'Reilly
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    May 18th 2021, 7:32 AM

    The government by saying 50% of new builds to be for first time buyers. Is in effect giving the cuckoo funds the green light to buy up the remaining 50%. This government needs put it’s citizens first.

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    Mute Rob Gale
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    May 18th 2021, 9:16 AM

    @Ger O’Reilly: also, the 50% is just for rural housing estates. So they can still buy up 100% of apartments and urban houses. It’s a toothless response by government who just wanna look like they’re acting on it.

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    Mute Tomo
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    May 18th 2021, 9:44 AM

    @Rob Gale: What the hell defines a ‘rural’ housing estate?

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    Mute ed w
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    May 18th 2021, 9:46 AM

    @Ger O’Reilly: the main problem is that the gov and local authorities don’t build social housing anymore. everyone is fighting to buy the same private builds.

    36
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    Mute Pádraigín O'Sirideáin
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    May 18th 2021, 11:19 AM

    @Tomo: I would presume it means outside a city’s boundries? …..

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    Mute Rob Gale
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    May 18th 2021, 11:25 AM

    @Tomo: a housing estate not in a city.

    15
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    Mute Dangling Damo
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    May 18th 2021, 12:14 PM

    @ed w: that trend began during the celtic tiger era when councils stopped recruiting trades men and no one objected and the government of the day reduced payments to councils making them reliant on private developers who were to give a percentage of new builds to the council but could opt to pay its way out of this with the central government reducing their payments to councils by the same amount and here we are once again with similar proposals being forwarded once again. Look to the rejection by a local council who now has not the skill set to build on its own lands instead relying on private builders to di the states job

    14
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    Mute billy bound
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    May 18th 2021, 8:02 AM

    Next election.
    Don’t vote FG,FF or greens
    Simple

    326
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    Mute Adrian Moore
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    May 18th 2021, 7:46 AM

    Anyone buying a house for commercial purposes should be taxed to the high heavins. Sellers selling to non commercial buyers should also get tax relief.

    248
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    Mute Me Darlin' Dublin
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    May 18th 2021, 7:27 AM

    They should invite a few first time buyers, homeless people and renters into these decision making meetings. Then they don’t have to hear their disappointment in the media.

    235
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    Mute Rochelle
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    May 18th 2021, 10:00 AM

    @Me Darlin’ Dublin: They know exactly what they’re doing and don’t care in the slightest about those groups.

    117
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    Mute Christopher Byrne
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    May 18th 2021, 7:59 AM

    There won’t be any sweeping changes here folks. They still don’t get it. The people demand a wholesale change to the way private housing is managed. They have the chance here and now to side with the people but they’ll choose the investors as FFG always do. Throw a few crumbs to Joe public but couldn’t possibly burn the investors. Retroactively tax all funds with the same taxes that private buyers face, simple as that. Anything less is not good enough

    180
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    Mute Joe
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    May 18th 2021, 8:50 AM

    @Christopher Byrne: off cource there won’t. These companies are designed to make money. If they came out and said they could only buy 10 before being taxed they would set up 100 Shell companies too buy them. They need to break the system and rebuild it. This government won’t want to p off our American friends.

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    Mute Ashling Fenton
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    May 18th 2021, 7:19 AM

    25,000 is not going to be enough though.

    159
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    Mute Gráinne
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    May 18th 2021, 8:55 AM

    @Ashling Fenton: I suspect there are more people in agreement that didn’t get to sign. A protest in the near future might show the real figures of people who want things to change in the people’s favour. Just goes to show how mass movements can gain traction and push change. This just did. Well done Rory – so many thanks deserved for your work on this.

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    Mute Niall O
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    May 18th 2021, 9:13 AM

    @Ashling Fenton: Wait until the next election….should get enough people then

    72
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    Mute Claudia Varell
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    May 18th 2021, 7:39 AM

    A “vacant and derelict homes tax” is a good measure in my opinion. When driving through Ireland, you can see those houses everywhere. Rotting, while people are living on the streets. I have reached out to the owner of such a house in a really lovely place and they told me that they have no interest in selling it, as the prices might go up in a few years. It’s a real shame to see that house breaking apart more and more.

    A real game changer would be a right to get a mortgage for first time buyers. It could easily be done by taking those “first time buyers mortgages” out of the hands of the banks. Looking at how cheap it is for countries to lend money at the moment, first time buyers could simply get their mortgages from the state, with a low or even no interest. Scotland has a similar rule and there it works since ages.

    I mean, if people in social housing are offered to buy their homes for like 5k from the state, why not also giving the working people a chance to buy themselves a home, if the banks are refusing mortgages?

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    Mute Siobhan Rosemary
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    May 18th 2021, 7:57 AM

    @Claudia Varell: social house for 5k lol do your research. Also there are plenty of “working” people living in social housing.

    86
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    Mute Gráinne
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    May 18th 2021, 8:59 AM

    @Claudia Varell: the decriminalisation of squatting would sort out the empty apartment issue with the stroke of a pen. We would see every empty apartment occupied with a tenant by the week end according to Manuel Albers, a expert on the finacialisation of housing. There cannot be 1 empty dwelling allowed right now and that would cost nothing. My proposal for the cabinet meeting Pascal, you’re welcome.

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    Mute Mike
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    May 18th 2021, 4:17 PM

    @Claudia Varell: Great example here of the disconnect in our society there is a real belief that only people on the doal live in social housing..Wakey wakey there are lots and lots of employed people on dirt wage who rely on this housing just as their employers rely on the low wage employees

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    Mute Cookie
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    May 18th 2021, 8:23 AM

    Making sure that neither FF/FG or the Greens take the vacant seat in the Dublin Bay South bye-election is the most immediate way we can express our opinion on how the government is failing the population in terms of housing.

    131
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    Mute Cookie
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    May 18th 2021, 8:25 AM

    Does ANYONE believe that Del-Boy O’Brien or Paschal Donoghue are actually going to tackle the vulture funds?

    125
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    Mute Jenny McNulty
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    May 18th 2021, 7:44 AM

    Where are the schools and amentities to go with these much needed housing developments? My kids are being kicked out of their current school location. Rehoused in another temp location outside our constituency. No land for a permanent site. 100s of by to let’s acquired by cuckoo funds. Don’t think they’d be so keen if they had to invest in schools and amenities!

    I’d appreciate your support for this – trying to secure a permanent site for my daughters’ school!!
    Have you seen this petition yet?
    http://chng.it/4FRLbXgJ

    80
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    Mute Arch Angel
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    May 18th 2021, 8:27 AM

    I think most people just want to be able to afford their own home, for the average couple on the average wage to be able to afford the average home. As things currently stand there isn’t a hope in Hell of that happening. And that’s before we get to the topic of Social Housing for those who can’t afford, through no fault of their own, to buy their own home. If the average person were given the opportunity to buy their own home the need for Social Housing would be greatly reduced.

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    Mute Me Darlin' Dublin
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    May 18th 2021, 7:51 AM

    The issue of housing is too important to be left in the hands of politicians. Look back in history to the Society of Friends. Quakers.

    82
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    Mute Sue OB
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    May 18th 2021, 8:07 AM

    Where can we find this petition so everyone can sign

    75
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    Mute Conor Byrne
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    May 18th 2021, 9:39 AM

    More rights for tenants? Tenants are already over protected in this country. What more rights do they need? Only in this country could a tenant who refuses to pay be protected and be able to stay in the property.

    “Remove landlords ability to evict tenants for sale…”. What? Why? How would that work? It’s their property. Surely once they give the required notice this can’t be an issue? This makes no sense and will surely reduce the number of houses available to rent, making things worse. Who would put their property up for rent if it’s going to prevent a sale down the road.

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    May 18th 2021, 12:57 PM

    @Conor Byrne: they need to up landlord protections. A man removed the joist in a roof and the people couldn’t evict him . That is insane. What am I meant to do with a current tenant who is a hoarder and mentally ill. He has started rewiring the place. Just let him stay and destroy the place

    12
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    Mute Fran O'Keeffe
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    May 18th 2021, 9:14 AM

    How about scraping this government

    64
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    Mute Jack Inman
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    May 18th 2021, 8:04 AM

    May as well add a demand for Dustin the Turkey for Housing Minister. About as much chance of that as you have of getting those changes into law

    60
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    Mute Bluechip78
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    May 18th 2021, 7:37 AM

    While I do think people should be able to afford housing I wonder do people understand that these ‘Cuckoo funds’ etc are where their pensions are invested.

    Stop the profitability of them and you’re killing your own pension investments

    41
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    Mute Edmund Murphy
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    May 18th 2021, 7:58 AM

    @Bluechip78: The funds can invest in other places. This is older people with homes and with the money to put some aside for a pension directly profiting off younger people with no spare money or homes. Pensions are great but there are ethical ways to profit.

    96
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    Mute Keith O'Reilly
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    May 18th 2021, 7:59 AM

    @Bluechip78: I think people would rather have a house than a pension they may never be able to enjoy (with retirement age creeping up all the time)

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    Mute Michael Healy
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    May 18th 2021, 8:27 AM

    @Bluechip78: id rather not invest in a pension that does this kind of investment and plenty will be the same. Destroying the chances of future generations buying a house in the name of a pension isn’t a justified cause. These cuckoo funds can invest elsewhere

    40
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    Mute Andrew Faulkner
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    May 18th 2021, 9:09 AM

    @Bluechip78: Which is basically meaningless to anyone in their 20′s or 30′s who’s struggling to buy a house and probably doesn’t have a pension as every last penny is being saved for a deposit or spent on rent..

    So when you say killing your own pension investments, really it’s the pension investments of people in their 50s and 60s who already got the benefit of buying a house in a more favourable market..

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    Mute John Smith
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    May 18th 2021, 7:25 AM
    26
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    Mute David Lafferty FCCA
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    May 18th 2021, 10:34 AM

    @John Smith: Thanks signed

    9
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    Mute Philip Cooper
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    May 18th 2021, 12:14 PM

    They’re handing Sinn Féin a majority in the next G.E.

    20
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    Mute John O
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    May 18th 2021, 12:50 PM

    @Philip Cooper: Then we will all be living in a Utopia with free housing for everyone, funded by the eternal money tree

    10
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    Mute Tom Goss
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    May 18th 2021, 1:12 PM

    @John O: Only a few percent of any currency exists as cash…the rest is information on bank computers. It literally is ‘nothing’ and neither you nor I have ever actually ‘made’, ie. created, any of it through the work we’ve done. Computer information just moved around.
    My point is that if we…and more precisely, they in government and finance…wanted to, a more fair and sensible system could be devised where people didn’t spend so much of their lives struggling and stressed trying to provide basic needs…and becoming homeless if things go wrong…while a small percentage of people who actually contribute very little somehow become extremely wealthy and powerful out of it all.
    But don’t hold your breath with FG in charge…

    6
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    Mute Bennett blaster
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    May 18th 2021, 8:57 AM

    The new measures aren’t enough, ffg don’t give a damn

    54
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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    May 18th 2021, 11:12 AM

    Check out this system https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c46fa02a-c4bb-404f-a1a7-d1266d26e5cc#:~:text=The%20Vienna%20Model%20of%20housing,that%20delivers%20housing%20for%20all.
    it works and works well. Cost Rental Plus would be the best description of it.
    As far as the present system.
    I feel it should be Cuckoo Hunting Season. Like hackers they are only money grabbers and should be gotten rid of.

    11
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    Mute Sean McDiarmada
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    May 18th 2021, 1:58 PM

    It is unbelievable that a cabal of Irish politicians are attempting to bring back
    large scale Landlordism to Ireland and replace the English variety that it took ten centuries; a revolution; and the martyrdom of brave patriots in 1916 to eradicate with American ones.
    This is treachery I can only compare to the action of Dermot Mac Murrough, the high king of Leinster, when he invited the Normans to our shores in 1169.

    10
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    Mute ed w
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    May 18th 2021, 9:45 AM

    not many then out of nearly 5 million

    9
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